I'm Asia Zhang and I'm from Long Island, New York. I'm 16 and I'm a rising junior. I'm part of the science research program within my school and I've conducted two research projects within the fields of psychology and plant biology/ecology. I've taken honors biology in freshman year and I'm taking AP Biology as a junior. I play field hockey and fence. I enjoy eating food and digesting it. I really like bread and Honey Nut Cheerios.



Introduction:
While the common water-borne diseases such as cholera, E. coli, typhoid fever, and dysentery are less common in developed countries where the majority of its population has easy access to clean water in which these pathogens have been eliminated by the modern water and sewage treatment system, these bacterial diseases continue to threaten the lives of those to whom access to clean water and better hygiene may be limited. Particularly in developing countries where current treatment options are unrealistic financially and politically, the disease is still widely prevalent among the population, just as it was in the US in early 1900s, before the current water treatment methods were put into use.


What are these diseases?
Cholerae, E. coli, typhoid fever, and dysentery are caused by bacterial infections and are most commonly transmittable through infected water. Symptoms of Cholera are characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Symptoms of E. coli are characterized by severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), and vomiting. Additionally, dysentery is characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, and painful stomach cramps. These infections have similar symptoms which often result in massive fluid loss. If those fluids are not replenished, these symptoms will most likely lead to death. Especially in environment in which the water is not safe to drink and will most likely worsen the symptoms, these preventable diseases actively threaten the lives of those in developing countries.


Addressing the problem:
In attempt to solve this problem, several more economically friendly and resource friendly alternatives have been created such as the:

• Plasma treated nano filters:

• An international team of researchers showed that water purification membranes enhanced by plasma-treated carbon nanotubes are ideal for removing contaminants and brine from water.
• these membranes could be integrated into portable water purification devices the size of a teapot that would be rechargeable, inexpensive and more effective than many existing filtration methods.
• 
  

Mille-feuille-filter removes viruses from water:

• The sheet, made of cellulose nanofibers, is called the mille-feuille filter as it has a unique layered internal architecture resembling that of the French puff pastry mille-feuille.

• Graphene oxide sheets:

• The structure of these sheets combines bacteria-produced cellulose and graphene oxide to form a bi-layered biofoam.
• There is a bi-layered structure with light-absorbing graphene oxide filled nanocellulose at the top and nanocellulose at the bottom. When the entire thing is suspended in water, the water is actually able to reach the top surface where evaporation happens.

Mycofiltration:

• Using the mycelium of fungi to filter pathogens out.
• Mycelium of fungi is the mass of branched, tubular filaments of fungi.
• Paul Stamets, the person who coined the term mycofiltration, actually conceived this technology after an outdoor mushroom bed made of wood chips and mycelium removed bacteria from an upland animal pasture on his small waterfront farm
• As mycofiltration is low-cost, low-impact, and requires relatively little installation space, it may soon provide municipal storm water managers with the perfect tool to help them meet their legal obligations under the Clean Water Act.

• The species that will be used is the Stropharia rugoso which has been shown to effectively remove E. coli when grown on a cellulosic substrate (wood chips or hay or both)
  • Intertwined fibers trap the pathogen when water runs through

How It Works:

• The mycelium of Stropharia rugoso was tested in mycofiltration columns consisting of 18.6 L containers with mycelium grown on either wood chips or a mixture of wood chips and straw.
• The mushroom produces crystal like structures in front of the growing mycelium, which breaks down when they encountered E. coli. When it breaks down, chemical signal is sent back to the mycelium to generate a customized macro-crystal which attracts thousands of E. coli. The mycelium then consumes the E. coli, effectively eliminating them from the environment.
• S. rugoso mycofiltration columns were tested with water containing 600–900 cfu/100 mL of E. coli at low (0.5 L/min; 0.57 m/d) and high (2.2 L/min; 2.5 m/d) hydraulic loading. The amount of E. coli going in and coming out of the filter was monitored using the Coliscan membrane filter chromogenic method.
  • Coliscan MF (membrane filter) medium is a nutrient liquid formulation which uses two color producing chemicals, one for the detection of the enzyme glucuronidase (produced by E. coli strains but not by general coliforms).
  • Water infected with E. coli will be passed through this filter which will collect the E. coli and the filter screen will be taken to incubation to allow colonies to grow.
  • If the E. coli colonies are present, they will produce glucuronidase (enzyme) which will react with the Coliscan medium and turn the solution pink.
• the presence of actively growing mycelium reduced the outflowing E. coli by >90% in comparison to the control media.

Real Life Application: Cleaning up Storm water drains

• Storm water drains are usually heavily contaminated with human and animal waste, other pollutants, and oil.
• Burlap sacks are filled with grown mushrooms (grown on woodchips and straw to create the filter)
• Then, they put the bags in the paths of storm drains, where contaminated water will filter through them.
• This method has shown to effectively and efficiently reduce the presence of E. coli in the water and hopefully this method can be implemented in areas lacking clean water to provide an opportunity of a healthier and happier life.

link to presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10lCSDIW4V8EpEsssdG7a_1bRwA3UtQCwiqbfBQxD2N4/edit?usp=sharing
Bibliography (links)

__https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726131654.htm__
__https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160518102735.htm__
__https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130821094933.htm__
__https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090907013806.htm__
__http://mushroommountain.com/p/visit-us__
__https://books.google.com/books?id=Mw3SBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=what+enables+large+scale+mycelium+production&source=bl&ots=2hpHmd0jAr&sig=6Qjujo4xF3mGIaP9z5C-T3_yJfc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjx3azQoprOAhVIpB4KHVnfAkMQ6AEIITAA#v=onepage&q=what%20enables%20large%20scale%20mycelium%20production&f=false__
__http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html__
__http://www.fungi.com/blog/items/mycofiltration-for-urban-storm-water-treatment-receives-epa-research-and-development-funding.html__
__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterborne_diseases#Bacterial__
__http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857414002250__
__https://www.micrologylabs.com/page/94/Coliscan-MF__